Characterisation and classification of phylloplane yeasts from Portugal related to the genus and description of five novel species

Abstract

Taphrina Fries is a genus of dimorphic ascomycetes comprising more than 90 species distinguished by the specific infections they produce on different vascular plants. Their filamentous states are restricted to parasitised plant tissue whereas the yeast states are saprobic and can be grown on artificial media. The latter coincide with the anamorphic phases and have been given separate nomenclatural status by the erection of the genus Lalaria R.T. Moore. In its original circumscription Lalaria included only 23 yeast states of known species of Taphrina and its creation was then redundant. Here we describe five novel species in the genus Lalaria to accommodate a total of 44 yeast isolates obtained mainly from leaf surfaces (phylloplane) of different plants in Portugal: Lalaria arrabidae sp. nov. (one strain), L. carpini sp. nov. (one strain), L. inositophila sp. nov. (37 strains), L. kurtzmanii sp. nov. (one strain) and L. veronaerambellii sp. nov. (four strains). L. inositophila was notable for its widespread occurrence since it was recovered during two consecutive years from the leaves of miscellaneous plant species. In the absence of sexual states and of unequivocal associations to particular host plants, the taxonomic relationship of the novel species to the yeast states of Taphrina available from culture collections was verified by the comparative analysis of physiological and molecular characteristics. The latter included PCR fingerprinting using single primers for microsatellite regions, sequencing of the 5' end of the 26S rRNA (LSU) gene (D1/D2 domains) and of the ITS1 and ITS2 rDNA spacer regions, and DNA-DNA hybridisation experiments. An emended description of the genus Lalaria is provided.

Biodiversity of yeasts isolated from the indigenous forest of Argan (Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels) in Morocco

“…Five novel species of the genus Lalaria were also isolated and characterized from this Mediterranean environment (Inàcio et al 2004). Middlehoven (1997) has also reported similar findings with the dominance of the genera of basidiomycetous yeasts in the leaves of trees from the Canary Islands.…”

“…The basidiomycetous yeasts of the genera Cryptococcus and Sporobolomyces were also found dominant on the leaves of other trees growing outside the Mediterranean basin such as Mango leaves (Jager et al 2001) and many tree species in China (Wang and Bai 2004). Yeast-like fungi such as Aureobasidium pullulans are also found on the phylloplane along with other yeast-like fungi of the genus Taphrina (Andrews et al 1987;Inàcio et al 2004).…”

Pullulan production by an osmotolerant Aureobasidium pullulans RBF-4A3 isolated from flowers of Caesulia axillaris

“…(Leathers, 2003). It is also found on the phylloplane along with other yeastlike fungi of the genera Taphrina and Lalaria (Inácio et al, 2004). Interestingly, most of the recent reports of pullulan production by A. pullulans are from plant leaves Manitchotpisit et al, 2009;Prasongsuk, Sullivan, Kuhirun, Eveleigh, & Punnapayak, 2005;.…”

Disentangling identity of species of the genus Taphrina parasitizing herbaceous Rosaceae, with proposal of Taphrina gei-montani sp. nov.

“…Since no potential host plant was recorded at this locality, this sequence might represent the asexual, saprobic yeast state of T. gei-montani. It has been proven that the yeast states of Taphrina are adapted for survival outside host plant tissues in free environments and their presence in various organic and inorganic substrates was noted (Babjeva & Reshetova, 1998;Webb et al, 2000;In acio et al, 2004;Maksimova & Chernov, 2004;Wuczkowski et al, 2005;Yurkov et al, 2008;Jumpponen & Jones, 2009Fonseca & In acio, 2011;Cordier et al, 2012;Selbmann et al, 2014).…”